Listening pays off for DCTA

Shortly after the Denton County
Transportation Authority added midday service to its A-train schedule,
officials made a prediction.

“We think the changes will actually
increase ridership all-around, even for the bus services,” said Dee Leggett,
DCTA communications and planning vice president.

Such statements are routine. You
wouldn’t expect a company to announce a new service without predicting success.

It’s later on, when the numbers are
tallied, that officials are obliged to take a more realistic look. It’s tough
to argue with results.

So, here it is about a month later — the
DCTA has issued an update and guess what?

Officials reported that they’ve been
enjoying positive ridership numbers for the A-train since midday rail service
was launched — ridership is up more than 50 percent.

“The real tell is the first two weeks of
classes. That’s what we compared — this year to last year and what that meant
to ridership,” Leggett told us.

The A-train carried 760 more passengers
during the first 10 days of the fall semester than DCTA served over the same
stretch in 2011, officials said. While there was no midday A-train service
then, DCTA did offer a bus option for midday travel.

The bus service, however, had its drawbacks.
One was that commuters could get stuck in traffic jams along the route —
traffic for which the A-train doesn’t have to wait.

“That lack of reliability impacted
ridership,” Leggett said. “That’s why we wanted to demonstrate what our
baseline comparison was last year and the impact of adding midday rail
service.”

The increase in midday ridership isn’t
surprising, considering that a lot of people would choose a moving train over a
bus stalled in traffic, but that wasn’t the only good news.

Leggett said total ridership has gone
up, as well, and is now 53 percent ahead of last year. The A-train is carrying
almost 730 passengers more per day than in 2011.

DCTA president Jim Cline attributed the
ridership growth to how well the peak-period service and the midday service
work together.

“It gives you the opportunity to have
much greater latitude with your route planning, if you’re a commuter,” Cline
told us.

It also underscores the importance of
listening to your customers.

The recent rail service changes were
approved in late May after DCTA officials identified midday service as a
priority based on input from train and bus riders in the spring.

Cline said that the midday service,
coupled with the continuation of good, steady performance and a positive option
for travel, should keep ridership numbers moving higher. In the meantime,
officials will be looking to get feedback from the public on the recent
schedule changes.

“We’re still looking for ways to
improve, and we’ll continue to work on that,” Cline said.

In our view, that could be the key to
the DCTA’s positive report.

It pays to listen.

Comments

DentonRC.com is now using Facebook Comments. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then add your comment below. Your comment is subject to Facebook's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service on data use. If you don't want your comment to appear on Facebook, uncheck the 'Post to Facebook' box. To find out more, read the FAQ .